Head - Human Resource & Industrial Relations - Manufacturing

Role: Lead the Human Resources and Industrial Relations function across manufacturing plants, providing strategic direction on industrial relations, talent management, organizational development, workforce productivity, employee engagement and statutory compliance. Drive a stable and productive work environment through strong union-management relationships, effective people practices, and proactive IR strategies, ensuring industrial harmony and uninterrupted business operations. Responsibilities: Industrial relations: - Develop and implement Industrial Relations strategies aligned with business objectives, ensuring industrial harmony, workforce productivity, employee engagement and uninterrupted plant operations. - Manage trade union relationships, including multi-union and complex union environments. - Lead Long-Term Settlements (LTS), wage negotiations and productivity settlements. - Manage employee grievances, disciplinary matters, domestic enquiries and dispute resolution. - Proactively identify and mitigate IR risks, strikes and work stoppages. - Ensure compliance with applicable labour laws, Standing Orders and statutory requirements. - Handle contract labour, manpower deployment and workforce-related IR matters. Greenfield Plant HR Setup: - Lead complete HR setup for greenfield automotive/manufacturing plant including policies, SOPs, wage structures, shift models, and statutory systems. - Partner with project and plant teams during plant commissioning and production ramp-up. Government Liaisoning & Statutory Compliance: - Liaise with Factory Inspectorate, Labour Department, PF, ESIC, Pollution Control Board, and local authorities. - Handle factory licenses, labor registrations, renewals, and statutory inspections. - Ensure compliance with Factories Act, Industrial Disputes Act, CLRA, Standing Orders, and applicable state labor laws. Plant Hiring & Workforce Planning: - Drive large-scale plant hiring for automotive/manufacturing roles such as operators, technicians, maintenance, quality, logistics, and supervisors. - Manage contract labor onboarding through contractors in compliance with CLRA norms. - Align manpower planning with line balancing, takt time, and production volumes. Skill Mapping & Capability Building: - Implement skill mapping and competency matrices for shopfloor and staff roles. - Identify skill gaps and coordinate training, multiskilling, and certification programs. - Support implementation of TPM, Kaizen, 5S, Safety, and Quality systems. Candidate profile: - Qualification: MBA/PGDM HR, MSW, Labour & Industrial Relations or equivalent. - 20-25+ years of experience in Industrial Relations, preferably in manufacturing sectors. - Strong experience in unionized manufacturing plants. - Proven track record of independently handling LTS/wage settlements and union negotiations. - Exposure to greenfield projects, brownfield expansion, acquisitions, restructuring, integration and plant closure will be an advantage. - Experience in driving HR transformation, organization development, culture-building and change-management initiatives. - Strong negotiation, influencing, stakeholder management, conflict-resolution and leadership skills.